The Blood Heiress

Shopping

Adella

The following morning shuffled along lazily after my first two days of interning. I had time to lay in bed and enjoy breakfast. Which also meant I had time for my mind to spin out over the newly assigned exhibition I was put in charge of. It ate at me all through the morning up until I realized that today was the day Ben had set aside for shopping. Ben gave me an envelope after breakfast containing a new debit card tied to an account under my birthname. As well as new id, correctly displaying my rightful identity. Reborn into a my rightful identity person, it was liberating to hold those two cards in hand. Securing them in my purse, I quickly dressed and Ben and I were off.

“There you are!” Verity crossed the parking lot to reach me in front of the glass entry of the Valence Mall.

“How have you been?” I asked when she joined me, and we walked inside.

“Same old same old. How are you?” We leisurely began our survey of available shops. I felt for the list of garments I was looking for in acceptable fabrics and colors in my pocket. Reassured that I had it, I turned my attention to an answer.

“Honestly Ver, I am not sure. There have been some developments.”

“Really? I want to hear everything about them. Let’s get some coffee first and catch up,” she grabbed my arm and veered to the right where a café was situated. We got in line.

“Cass and his sister came into work yesterday,” at the mention of a certain bartender she perked up a bit.

“A sister…interesting. What were they doing at your work?”

“She is an artist that we are going to be host an exhibition for.”

“No way! She is having a gallery exhibition! Did Cass recognize you?”

“Yeah, and then he introduced me to his sister in front of my boss.”

“Hmmm.” She got a good look at my flushed face. Our time in line came to an end as we approached the counter and ordered. We then moved off to a small table to wait. “There’s more here to the story, come on spill.”

“After he introduced me, his sister asked if I was going to be the one helping with her show and René said I was if she wanted!”

“Wait wait wait weren’t you the crate handler last I checked?”

“And housekeeper and the assistant packer,”

“Of course, how could I forget.” She rolled her eyes playfully. “Now you get to help plan a gallery event for a featured artist? All because Cass introduced you to his sister?” Our coffees arrived and we paused to gratefully give them a try. Found to be to our satisfaction she continued. “What would your life have been like if I hadn’t have introduced you to Cass?”

“A lot easier!” I said with emphasis, she laughed “I mean have to plan a whole fancy event and I have no experience. René was thrilled that I had apparent connections but made it clear that if I don’t succeed at it, I get fired.” I said sullenly.

“You will be fine. I am sure his sister can’t be that bad to work with. Plus, you always have Cass to get help from he has to be familiar somewhat with the art world if he is following his sister around to galleries.”

“Thanks, I hadn’t thought of that,” I felt a little better.

“So, what is on the list for today?” she asked.

“I need a few casual outfits, new pajamas, a few new gallery appropriate dresses now that I am front of house."

“Eee! This is going to be so much fun!”

I took a few sips from my coffee and allowed my feelings to show. “I am excited.”

“You are in luck, friend, because I am the queen of shopping.” She laughed. “Oh, before I forget,” She reached into her purse and pulled out a brochure and a book. “These are form the college. I grabbed what I thought you needed.” She handed them over. “The brochure is basic list of all the degrees they offer, and this book is the class directory for enrollment and information on how to satisfy the degree of your choice.” She waited while I looked them over "But Addie, you probably don't need these courses I mean you have a whole world of opportunity in front of you now."

"I guess so. I will still look them over. It feels weird to have wanted to go for so long and then not go." I placed the items in my own purse, and we finished our coffees and began my first shopping adventure. Ver hadn’t been joking, she knew her way around the available stores with ease. Three hours into it and I was thankful for those earlier coffees and ready to go home. We were currently dwelling in a formal wear store as Verity had had a moment of insight and decided I should start looking for a dress to attend the exhibition in.

“Try this one on. They pulled it out of the new arrivals. I have a good feeling!” Ver’s voice lifted at the end in excitement. I was glad she still had some. Shopping was a sport I had built up no endurance for. I shimmied out of the body-hugging blue dress that hadn’t made the cut and traded it for the ebony silk one hanging over the changing room door. I zipped it as high as I could and took a moment to get a good look. Meh…Everything so far had just been underwhelming. I felt very much the imposter in fine clothing. Surely everyone around me would think the same. I needed a dress that gave me confidence not robbed me of it.

“Alright what do you think Ver? Is it the one,” Her expectant face fell when I revealed myself, stepping out into the hallway.

"Why is this so hard?” I stomped back into the dressing room. “I am done Ver. We can do this again another time. I am tired and want to go home.”

“Sure, sure.” Her voice matched my lack of enthusiasm now. “Hey, I know this great dress shop further uptown. It is spendy but worth it.” I left the room and its mountain of dresses behind. “You know, real one-of-a-kind stuff.”

“Sounds great Ver, thanks” I gave her an appreciative smile and a hug. “I need to build up my shopping muscles before we go again though.” I groaned as I grabbed my bags.

We sat down just inside the entry we had used that morning. I used the app to call Ben and we waited in comfortable silence. It was broken by our stomach’s both rumbling and then our surprised giggles.

“Want to come over for some lunch?”

“I really want to say yes, buuutt I have to get some homework done.” She bumped my shoulder. “Ask me again after finals and I will be there.”

“When are finals?”

“In two weeks. The new quarter starts in four. We have a short break between them.” I touched my purse to make sure the college information was still there.

Ben pulled up and we gave each other an awkward shopping bag hug.

“See you soon. Thanks for hanging out” I was truly happy to have participated in such a normal activity and spend time with Ver at the same time.

“I will call you soon. Remember Addie take a deep breath and ask for help with the gallery thing k?” She patted my arm and I nodded.

Ben raised his eyebrows at my bags. “Looks like you were successful.”

“It was fun Ben. I haven’t had fun in a long time. I found everything but my gallery dress.” I sat back and let my body relax into the plush seats. Ben’s eyes crinkled around the edges.

“It makes me happy to hear Addie. Ready to go home.”

“Yes, I didn’t know shopping took so much out of a person.” Ben's soft chuckle filled the quiet car.

***

I sheepishly entered the dining room. I had taken a nap when I got home and had overslept. Ben was waiting there but they hadn’t served anything yet.

“Hey Ben,” I took my customary spot and within moments of sitting the steaming food was placed on the table.

“Good evening, Addie. How was your nap?”

“Sorry, yes I feel much better now.” I flushed a little, it felt so lazy to be able to take a nap and disrespectful to have others have to wait because of you.

Ben chuckled. “Addie no need to be ashamed or embarrassed. It is good to get your rest when you need it. It is better to be healthy than on time. And as the lady of this estate no one is upset at having dinner later than usual. No need to worry.”

“Alright, thank you,” I pulled my shoulders back and tried to let his words sink in.

“How is the internship going? You mentioned a gallery dress was necessary now.”

I crumpled a little at the weight of what I still had to put together. “Yes, I need a dress for a gallery opening. A gallery opening…. that I am in charge of putting together.”

“That is wonderful news Addie, why do you look so down?” Ben smiled.

“If I fail to put together a successful showing I will be terminated. I can't fail.” I sounded so petulant to be complaining about this again. But if anyone understood why this was so stressful it had to be Ben. He knew of the trust and the stipulations put on me.

“Ah, yes. That is too be expected but it is only one possibility. What happens if you have a successful gala?” His eyes twinkled.

“I will be promoted permanently to gallery assistant.” Though a possibility it felt like an impossible outcome, given my ability level and experience.

“So why not focus on that?”

“I have no experience. I have no idea what a successful event of that sort looks like.” I put my fork down in frustration and pushed my plate away. I was momentarily distracted by the server that came and took the plate away unbidden. That must be one of those signals they wait for. Making a mental note to only replicate the signal when actually finished with my food, I refocused.

“Why don’t you try the library? I remember a few books that are dated but might be of use.” He handed me a list of book names he had just written down. Or you can always use the computer in there to search for event examples and ideas.

I suddenly felt a little lighter. “Thanks Ben.” I was full of energy from my extended nap, I could get started right away.

Hidden away on the first floor the library was a two-story dream. It blew the institutional one at the orphanage out of the water. The bookcases were made of a dark wood and polished until gleaming. They stretched from floor to ceiling and covered every wall. There was a large table opposite a fireplace with a sofa and two armchairs. And nestled in one of the corners were a few laptops on a table. I turned on all the lights so I could find the books in question. It took me longer than expected to figure out the organization scheme. One and a half hours after I entered, I found the last book on the list. Realizing that my newly found energy had been spent I decided to take them back to my room and peruse them tomorrow. If there was nothing of value to be found, I would try search online.

Sleep came quickly despite the earlier rest. Though nightmares visited me again. Parts of it were similar to the others I had had before: blackness like a velvet shroud covered me, swirled around me, bright red bloody streaks and a hidden room. This time though a pair of eyes kept popping up, icy blue eyes. They would circle me and disappear only to reappear after a while. It was frenetic, stressful and overwhelming. When I finally fought my way out, it was around 3am. Those eyes were familiar feeling but in my current state I couldn't place them. I gave up trying to recall any solid details from the dream five minutes into trying. It was too late or rather too early. Instead, I watched the clouds lazily move across the moonlit sky out my windows until I could fall asleep again.

I had breakfast served early in my room so I could get a jumpstart on gleaning bits from the books, and I spent the morning taking notes. This was my second and final day off this week and I wanted to get some ideas down before showing up tomorrow. The first two books were photo journals of artists, which featured whole montages of their gallery exhibitions as a byproduct of the in-depth look into their lives. It was great to get an idea of what one was supposed to look like. I took some pictures of the pages with my phone. The third book was about social etiquette and near the back was a chapter on gallery etiquette. There was one whole paragraph on exhibitions. Books four and five were a bit harder to get anything useful out of. One was on event planning. At first, it seemed like the best choice out of the four. But there was nothing of use specific to gallery openings. And book five was far too abstract to get anything out of. I closed the last book and looked over my scant notes.

At least I have something more than nothing now. Wait! I noticed something in the photos. All the exhibitions had one thing in common. The theme matched the art! Duh! Something so simple and yet I hadn’t even come close to connecting the dots. I need to see the artwork first. Meet with Valerie and pick her brain. Then, I could figure out the rest. Satisfied that I had a direction, I set my work aside and decided to move on and see what needed to be attended to at home. Ben and I had been continuing with training and tutoring concerning estate management when we could fit it in. I still had some staff to meet as well. I would have to see what was top of Ben's list for today. After a shower and changing into some of my new casual clothing I went to go check in with Ben and Maria. I found them both in the kitchen where I was told to look for them by a maid. They apparently, liked to take their morning break together over tea.

“Good morning, Ben, Maria.” They both looked my way with content smiles.

“Good morning, were those books of any use?” Ben inquired.

“I was able to get some good ideas out of them thank you. I don’t feel completely secure in my ability yet. But I feel better.”

“Morning Adella. Come sit for a bit and have some tea with us.” Maria pulled out a stool at the kitchen counter.

I happily sat and poured myself a cup. Silence settled over us.

“So, my dear what will you be up to today,” Ben finally broke it.

“I was here to find out if anything was needed of me. I have another day off and wasn’t sure if there was something I should do or needed to do for the trust or the estate.”

“Mr. King is back and working in the gardens today. You still have to meet him.” Maria pipped up.

The elusive Mr. King. “Let’s do that then Maria,” I smiled. I had honestly forgotten about him after starting my internship.

Ben and Maria shared a small, quick glance. Ben then looked at me and cleared his throat. “Adella. Mr. King has worked for the Russo’s since before I started. He started working for your grandfather.”

I gave him a quizzical look.

“He is one of the Russo’s..biggest supporters…” Ben trailed off and cleared his throat clearly done explaining. Why is he always so strange?

“He doesn’t believe that you are the heir,” Maria blurted it out and suffered a glare from Ben.

“Should I still meet him then?” The way they were acting made what assuredly had to be a very elderly man, seem dangerous.

“As lady of the estate it is your duty,” Ben solemnly stated. “But be advised it may not go well. You may wish to stall the meeting a little longer, but that may not assure a better outcome. In fact, it may be worse. It is up to you”

“I’d like to meet him and get it over with,” I said. “Would you both go with me?” I needed some backup and who better than his long-time coworkers?